Rúben Vinagre and Leroy Fer see red as Wolves and Swansea play out stalemate

This was the result that neither side really wanted, but despite their struggles in the Premier League, it was the Swansea manager, Carlos Carvalhal, who left Molineux more satisfied with the prospect of a replay. On a bitterly cold Black Country afternoon with a distinctly Portuguese flavour, Nuno Espírito Santo saw his Championship leaders dominate their opponents yet fail to find a breakthrough.

A straight red card for Rúben Vinagre just before half-time was partly to blame for interrupting their momentum, although Wolves failed to take advantage of the soft dismissal of Leroy Fer midway through the second half and will instead head to south Wales next week to try again.

Yet for Carvalhal, who followed the victory at Watford last Saturday with another positive result on the road, it was a pleasing end to a testing first week in charge. “I’m very pleased with my players. The commitment and attitude was good against a very strong team and we created problems for them,” he said. “I felt that we progressed to another step today. In this short time I’m very happy because the platers have completely exceeded my expectations.”

With only one league position separating them, it was debatable whether this qualified as a potential upset and both managers showed where their priorities lie this season by making six changes from their previous league outings.

Wolves’ England Under-17 World Cup-winner, Morgan Gibbs-White, was selected for his first start of the season in central midfield, while the 20-year-old striker Rafa Mir was named among the substitutes following his transfer from Valencia last week.

Carvalhal, whose Sheffield Wednesday side lost to Wolves last month in one of his last acts as manager before his swift appointment to replace Paul Clement, selected the same 3-4-3 formation as his compatriot, with Wilfried Bony back from injury to lead the line. As Carvalhal had acknowledged before the match, Wolves possess a number of players who would not look out of place at a Premier League club and, even in the absence of the leading performers Rúben Neves and Diogo Jota, looked to have too much for Swansea in the first half hour.

One of the first to arrive in Wolves’ Jorge Mendes era, Hélder Costa has been struggling for game time under Nuno but the winger was a constant menace here, twice testing Kristoffer Nordfeldt after Bright Enobakhare had an early effort saved. He was later guilty of wasting Wolves’ best chance of the half before Martin Olsson struck the crossbar at the other end with a rasping free-kick.

By then, Renato Sanches – another Mendes client – had limped off the pitch with a suspected hamstring injury. There is every chance he could find himself back here next season should Bayern Munich decide to move him on after a disappointing campaign so far.

But it was a moment of madness from yet another of Wolves’ Portuguese loanees five minutes before half-time that changed the course of the game, with the home fans convinced that Nathan Dyer made the most of the reckless tackle from Vinagre. Somewhat harshly, Gibbs-White was sacrificed as Nuno attempted to shore up his midfield, although even with 10 men they continued to look the more likely winners.

Their task was aided with a quarter the match to play when Fer was dismissed for bringing down Costa, the winger fouled for the umpteenth time as he threatened to break away. Carvalhal described the decision as a “classic yellow card”.

Perhaps unsurprisingly given they have conceded an average of more than two goals per match in the league, Swansea lacked ambition thereafter and were grateful for Mike van der Hoorn’s timely interception late on to deny Mir after he was played in by Costa.

“I think we should naturally win the game because we were better than them,” said Nuno. “It is about being better than your opponent, it doesn’t matter if they are in front of you. If they are Premier League and you are Championship. Sometimes you have to adapt but some things never change – the desire to win. And we showed that today, the whole squad with a lot of players coming in and this is what we want.

“I think the team played really well,” he added. “When you go down to 10 men you have to find solutions and even with 10 I think we controlled the game really well. I am sorry for the result but not the performance.”